I had some knee pain while running almost 2 weeks ago. I iced it and it didn't go away so I stopped running on it and went to the Doc. She said it was just from over use and to rest. I took 5 days total off of running. Ran for the first time last night and it was a little tight feeling. Tried to run this morning and couldn't even get a mile the pain was so bad. When I ran last week I felt as though I could run even with the pain. My knee felt better running before I took the time off, now its much worse. I'm going to a PT who said it was likely plica syndrome and just to keep resting it. But she can't say how long to rest it for. My question is, is it normal when dealing with this for it to actually feel worse after 5 days off? And has rest ever helped anyone with this? I have a referal in for an Orth but I'm waiting on approval for it. I'm a high school senior who was in the build up phase before track and I'm worried that this injury could keep me from my last season in H S or at least really make it hard for me to perform well. Anyone ever have to take a few weeks off during build up and be able to set PR's when they came back?

I had it and had surgery! was running in about 2.5 weeks...Joan Benoit also had it and won the USOT 26.2 miler 17 days later,,then she went onto win Olympic marathon in 224ish and set world record in 1/2 marathon a mpnth later....68:30ish??

Ditto on the surgery. The longest part was convincing the doctor to do it. He had me go to physical therapy for weeks and other exercises first. I just wanted to get the surgery and be done with it.Once we did the surgery, I was back running in no time. 3months after, raced a 10k in low 36. I am normally a 33-34 min guy.

I've heard mixed reviews on the plica surgery. There are people like the posters above me but search plica and you'll hear people who say the plica surgery made things worse. There are other treatments available, I can't remember what it was called but my PT did something kind of similar to ultrasound. If it's not too bad stim may be able to help too.

What specifically are your symptoms? Is there any crepitus or scratchiness/grating-feeling when bending your knee? Does it hurt to bike, do the elliptical, etc.? And does your pain occur on the top, side, or bottom of your inner knee?

Pain on the side of my knee almost on the side of the knee cap when I bend it, when going down stairs and running. Doesn't hurt to walk on or squat. It's more like a tight feeling in the inside of my knee something like a tight muscle almost, except when I run. When I run it is very painful but I can bike and do the eliptical with no pain.

I went to the Ortho today and he said surgery was the best option, but he wanted to do an MRI just to rule everything out. I get an MRI in the morning and hopefully nothing surprises us on it.